The passive voice

1. The passive voice

2. object Alice broke your DVD player. (active sentence) subject Your DVD player was broken by Alice. (passive sentence) In the passive voice, the object in the active sentence becomes the subject in the passive sentence.

3. We use the passive voice when: 1 what is done is more important or interesting than the person who does it. Different computer games are brought out every year. The computer was repaired yesterday. 2 it is obvious who is doing the action even if it is not mentioned. In school, we are taught Computer Studies. The boy was arrested for stealing two CDs from the shop. 3 we do not know who is doing the action. My new CD was stolen. The song was written in the 1960s.

4. We form the passive voice with the verb to be + the past participle. We add a ‘by . . . ’ phrase if we need to say who/what does the action. We form passive sentences in the simple present tense like this. Subject Verb to be Past participle I am amused by the film. We are invited to the party. He is frightened by the loud noise.

5. We form the passive voice with the verb to be + the past participle. We add a ‘by . . . ’ phrase if we need to say who/what does the action. We form passive sentences in the simple past tense like this. Subject Verb to be Past participle I was amused by the film. were stolen. My new CDs It was written in 1990.

6. Rewrite the following sentences in the passive voice. Use ‘by’ only of it is important or necessary to say who/what is doing the action. 1 A French artist drew the painting. 2 Dad repaired the DVD player yesterday. 3 Somebody stole my CD player. 4 A lot of children love the new Japanese cartoon character. 5 The wind blew away the new poster. 6 The Beatles wrote the song in 1964. The painting was drawn by a French artist. The DVD player was repaired by Dad yesterday. My CD player was stolen. The new Japanese cartoon character is loved by a lot of children. The new poster was blown away by the wind. The song was written by the Beatles in 1964.